


Fever

by MoonRiver



Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV)
Genre: 2020 was a bad year, Family, Family Feels, Gen, Ghost Reveal, Good Parent Ray Molina, Protective Luke Patterson (Julie and The Phantoms), Reggie Peters Has Bad Parents (Julie and The Phantoms), Sickfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-12
Updated: 2021-01-12
Packaged: 2021-03-17 05:00:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,834
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28719267
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MoonRiver/pseuds/MoonRiver
Summary: When the coronavirus hits the Molina household, the phantoms step in to take care of their family.
Comments: 10
Kudos: 109
Collections: Random_booklovers favourite band fics





	Fever

**Author's Note:**

> I feel like this fandom needs more sickfics, so here is my contribution!

Life In quarantine was…okay at first.

Being in a virtual music program was as miserable as it sounded, but at least Julie got more time at home with the band. It was kind of nice, feeling like she could be a part of the day to day world instead of just being dropped off at school and sitting in that prison day in and day out. Even the guys got on board: Reggie loved sitting in on her math class (who knew he was so good at algebra?!) and Alex found her philosophy class fascinating. They all liked her creative writing class and found a love for writing outside of songwriting (though they eventually had to ban Reggie from writing only zombie and vampire stories). Luke was just stoked about getting more rehearsal time in. Her dad was clearly secretly thrilled to have more time at home with his kids- he was even actually learning how to cook via youtube (though he had no idea how much Reggie was ‘helping’).

It was just something they had to get through. It would be over soon enough, right?

Three months in, and everything definitely was feeling like ground hog day every day. Even the guys were getting restless, though she told them they didn’t need to confined themselves to the garage just for her sake, they seemed to make it their duty to make sure she had company at all times. Also, she wasn’t sure Alex wasn’t fully convinced that ghosts couldn’t get coronavirus.

Six months in, and Julie was certain she was going insane. She hated virtual school, she hated that she and Flynn had missed out on an entire summer hanging out together, she hated not being able to gig, she hated the news. She found it harder and harder to motivate herself to go to the studio and do anything productive with the band. Luke had, at one point, proposed a song a day writing challenge, which had lasted all of three days. All the same, while the guys seemed to be more creative than ever, she was just…done. Saturdays were spent laying in bed until one of the guys finally poofed into her room and tried to quite literally drag her out of bed to do _anything_. She and Carlos were bickering more than ever, and though her dad hadn’t explicitly said anything about money being tight, it was obvious he was getting less and less work. Their grocery hauls shrunk, he said ‘no’ more often in regards to ordering Amazon or Doordash. He took whatever temporary remote jobs he could find. She knew her mom’s life insurance policy had helped pay off the house and put a decent amount had been left in savings that they could tap into. But the longer everything went on the more strained she, her brother and dad became, and the more she wondered if this might ever end.

Seven months in, Julie began to cough.

It was like the whole world stopped.

She had felt more tired than usual that day but wrote it off as just being unmotivated. But just a couple of songs into their practice session, Julie let out a round of coughs that stopped the boys in their tracks.

“Julie, you okay?” Luke asked, throwing concerned glances to Alex and Reggie.

“Yeah,” she lied. She definitely felt too fatigued. But she thought she could power through it. If she could just get herself motivated, feel like a productive person and get through this rehearsal, maybe she wouldn’t feel so run down. “I’m-“

But before she said fine she coughed again, and it was only then she realized how heavy her chest felt.

“Oh no…” Alex announced, echoing what they were all thinking.

“It’s probably just allergies,” Julie offered, though the wheels were already turning in her head. They had eaten breakfast together this morning as a family. She had been touching the fridge, the remote…everything. If she had it there was no way Carlos and her dad didn’t get it.

“Maybe we should call it a day,” Reggie offered.

“This was literally the only thing I had to do today!” Julie shot, sounding far whinier than she meant. And to be in the cold garage, she felt way too hot. “I’m really…”

But her chest tightened, and it was like her body was warning her to not try to speak anymore. Letting out a long breath, she ran her hands over her face, trying to will herself to power through it.

“Julie,” Luke warned. His hand fell on her shoulder and their eyes connected, both understanding what was going on. She knew she was a lost cause.

“I’ll be okay,” she sighed. “Kids don’t get this that badly, usually. I’ll be fine in a few days.”

By the next day, Julie’s throat was so sore all she could stand to eat was soup, though she might as well have just fixed a huge pot of broth because she couldn’t smell or taste anything. The guys visited her in her room, but all she had the strength to do was sleep.

“I thought kids didn’t get this that bad,” Luke mumbled as he and the guys watched over her on the fourth day.

“I guess it’s different for everyone,” Alex said with a shrug.

Though they couldn’t get sick, somehow it was like Julie being more miserable made them feel like they were going through this.

“What a stupid year to come back as ghosts to.”

“Hey!”

“Seriously!” Luke shot. “I mean, yeah it’s great we met Julie, and it started off so well…but seriously, of all years.”

Alex didn’t respond, and Luke knew he understood where he was coming from. Was this part of their afterlife punishment? Coming back and being forced to watch as the world was in total crisis mode, watch the people they came to love suffer, and not be able to do anything?

At the least, they were able to touch her now. Interacting with objects was second nature to them by now, so at the least they were able to help Julie out some, especially since Ray was so sick. Alex reached for the thermometer and ran it over her forehead.

“Her fever is still high,” Alex sighed.

As he pulled the thermometer back, Luke dragged the cool wash cloth over her warm forehead. Julie stirred, earning him a glare for waking her.

“Sorry,” Luke offered, but even so he grabbed the glass of water by her bed. “Here, you haven’t had anything to drink in awhile.”

“I’m fine. Let me sleep.”

She sounded so weak it pained Luke to hear her.

“Come on, boss. You know how important it is to stay hydrated right now.”

“Yeah, we heard your dad’s fifteen minute lecture on staying hydrated while sick,” Alex chimed in.

“Thank you doctors Luke and Alex,” she shot, her voice barely audible as she pulled the blanket back over her head.

Luke sighed in defeat just as Reggie popped into the room, worry worn on his face.

“Studio, now,” the bassist announced.

He grabbed both of their arms and poofed them out to the studio before they could argue.

“Ray sounds bad,” Reggie announced, his eyes wide with panic. “Like, real bad. And I saw him take his temperature and it’s 101.”

“Damn,” Luke breathed.

“Yes, damn!” Reggie exclaimed, his voice rising the more he panicked. Usually it was Alex who was the most anxious one, but Luke knew Reggie had really taken to Julie’s dad. He had never had much of a father figure, and he was clearly spiraling like it was his own father who was about to go through this. “You realize we’re the only healthy people over seven years old in this house right now?”

“Well technically…” Alex started.

“Don’t,” the bassist warned, pointing an accusing finger toward Alex. “If Julie got this bad this quick, and she’s just a teenager…”

Luke felt sick himself when he realized what Reggie meant. Ray was very likely to be very bad by tomorrow if his fever was already that high. He could see the anxiety brewing in Alex’s eyes, Reggie had already lost it, and he knew he had to stay the calm and collected one. He thought quickly…Ray might still not know that he had three teenage ghosts living in the garage, and they collectively didn’t even have so much of a high school diploma between the three of them, but he knew they could do this. They had to; they owed it to Julie to make sure she and her family got through this okay.

“Are you sure we shouldn’t try to reach their aunt?” Reggie suggested cautiously.

“She’s diabetic, remember?” Alex pointed out. “She doesn’t need to get this at all.”

“Right…”

“We’ve got this,” Luke announced confidently. “We know Ray stocked up on medical supply stuff in case anyone did get this, right? So we should be good. They just did grocery shopping, and they can’t taste or smell or want to eat anything anyway so that’s fine. We just need to make sure Julie gets her strength back and keep an eye on her dad. Reggie, you can help look after Ray, I’ll stay with Julie, and Alex, can you take care of Carlos?”

The drummer nodded nervously. While only Julie could still see them, Carlos had admitted to his sister soon after the Orpheum that he knew they were ghosts. They were able to communicate with him through writing, even texting, and of course he came to watch a lot of their practices. The three had taken him in like a younger brother, and Carlos seemed thrilled to have brothers of their own. He’d accept their help.

Alex drew in a deep breath before transporting himself into the seven year old’s room, where the kid was of course, playing his game instead of doing homework. He turned the main light switch on and off twice, which had become their signal for when he was around. For Reggie, it was once (and he usually flipped the blinds open and closed for good measure) and for Luke it was three times.

“Hey Alex.”

Pausing the game, Carlos opened his laptop and pulled up a blank word document. It was the easiest way to communicate, though Alex was still getting used to typing on the tiny laptop keyboard.

 _Your dad isn’t feeling too good._ He looked up to gage Carlos’ reaction; while panic rose in his eyes, he simply nodded silently, understanding. _He’s going to be okay. We’re going to help you guys. Julie is asleep in her room, Luke is going to help her and Reggie’s helping your dad. I’m going to hang out with you, if that’s okay?_

Carlos nodded numbly.

“I know I’m supposed to be doing homework,” Carlos announced, his voice a bit shaky. “I’m sorry!”

A sad smile fell across Alex’s face, even though he knew the boy couldn’t see. He couldn’t imagine how scary this must be for someone so young- it was scary for him, and he was dead! But Carlos had just lost his mom less than two years ago, from a disease that had made her super sick. All that mattered right now was making sure he got through these next couple of weeks okay.

 _Your secret’s safe with me._ He glanced at the clock, noting that it was already six o’clock and by now Ray normally would have informed the kids of what he was making, but the house was silent. _How about we make some soup for you to take to your dad, and we’ll make a pizza?”_

Carlos grinned.

Pizza always made everything better.

Reggie didn’t realize just how much he had latched onto the eldest Molina until he saw what Ray’s temperature had come out to. The boys had all been around to hear the horror stories on the news. They listened as the Molinas recapped tales of how getting the virus went from their friends and families- which would be anything from mere body aches to Julie’s thirty-five year old cousin who was whisked quickly from the ER to the ICU, after thinking all he had was severe dehydration and some shortness of breath. There didn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason, and it was terrifying to watch helplessly, as a ghost. While normally he was the happy go lucky, positive, one, Reggie had fallen silent that afternoon. It was typically how he dealt with stress: just silence. He didn’t want to panic or scare anyone, it had been bad enough trying to tell the guys. He just went through the motions, trying to convince himself things weren’t as bad as they seemed.

Luckily, while Ray’s fever was bad he was, of course, a grown adult and knew how to take care of himself while he was sick. Ray knew not to push things, and he had already been napping in his bedroom for a couple of hours when there was a soft knock at the door and Carlos entered, carrying a tray containing a bowl of soup and some tea. Alex was right behind him, and Reggie smiled.

“Dad?” Carlos called softly. He sat the tray down on the night stand and carefully shook his dad awake. Ray looked startled as his eyes shot open, looking around in confusion- Reggie could have sworn the dad’s eyes landed on him for a split second, but of course he was imagining things. He stiffened when he saw how weak Ray’s eyes already looked, and he knew they’d need to take his temperature again.

“Hey mijo,” Ray greeted, trying to force a smile but it faltered. He groaned as he sat up, his body clearly aching all over. “I’m sorry if I scared you. I just needed some rest.”

“I know you’re sick too,” Carlos stated. “But it’s okay! I’ve got this. I brought you some soup and tea so you can stay hydrated.”

Ray’s eyes narrowed.

“You used the stove?” He accused.

Carlos looked around in a panic, looking for some help from the ghosts who had no choice but to stay invisible.

“Julie got up and made some,” Carlos lied. While Reggie felt bad that they were giving Ray false hope about how much better his daughter was feeling, he did look a bit more at ease at the idea that Julie felt well enough to be walking around.

“You kids don’t need to worry about me,” Ray offered, running his hand through is son’s hair. “I will be good as new, I just need some sleep.”

“And liquids. I heard your speech.”

Ray smiled, but when he glanced over to check the time on his alarm clock his eyes went wide.

“Dinner!” He realized as he tried to sit up more. “I slept through-“

His son forced him to stay laying back down.

“Julie helped me make some pizza.”

Carlos was getting a little too good at lying, Reggie realized. Or maybe Ray was just a sucker. He grinned to himself; the man had three teenage ghosts living in his studio and thought his daughter was in a hologram band with three kids from Sweden. Of course he was a sucker- which Reggie adored. He only ever thought the best of his kids…even if they were clearly lying to his face.

“And now you need to eat,” Carlos announced. “And sleep. You are off dad duty tonight.”

An amused smile crossed Ray’s face, though he looked a tad concerned about all that could happen to the house while he had the night “off.”

“We’ve got this Ray,” Reggie reassured, though of course only Alex could hear him. “No need to worry.”

“Or,” Alex teased coolly, sounding slightly afraid himself, “is there every reason to worry?”

They knew they were in for a rough night, but the phantoms had no idea just how _long_ of a night it would be. Once Ray had something to eat he quickly fell back asleep. Reggie had taken his temperature once he did and shuddered when it came back as 101. He fetched more blankets to add to the bed before he and Alex went back to Julie’s room to check on her and Luke. Instead, her room was empty when they appeared in it; instead there were sounds of someone being sick in the hall bathroom Julie used. They instantly reappeared outside the bathroom instead, careful to knock a couple of times.

“Julie?” Reggie called softly.

“Get in here!” Luke’s voice demanded, the door opened and he pulled his friend inside.

“Woah…”

It was all he managed when he saw the state of how sick Julie was. Her face was so pale she was nearly white, her hair was a sweaty mess that Luke quickly moved to hold back for her as she was sick again. Reggie tried to not react…he normally was not great around bodily fluids.

“Why is she so sick?!” Alex exclaimed, like any of them would know.

“I don’t know!” Julie whined as she leaned back against the wall, but lost her balance even as she tried to do that. Luke caught her before she could fall, glancing up to the other two with more panic in his eyes than either of them had seen in a long time. “I don’t understand. Why am I sick to my stomach? _Why am I so sick?_ ”

Her voice was so hoarse and weak it hurt them to hear. Alex quickly moved to get her a fresh glass of water from the sink and Reggie kneeled down beside his two bandmates. His heart eased a little when Julie threw a weak smile to them.

“What?” Luke demanded, failing to see what could ever be funny about this situation.

“I have three teenage boys in my bathroom,” Julie teased in a voice that didn’t sound like hers at all. She was so out if. “My dad would faint.”

“Don’t joke…” Reggie warned.

Julie’s eyes narrowed as she tried to sit up, but Luke stilled her, trying to make her not move so quickly and make herself dizzy.

“Is he okay?!”

She let out a round of coughs, it was the loudest she had spoken all day. Luke held her closer and squeezed her hand.

“He’s okay,” Luke promised. “He just has a fever.”

“Oh no.” Closing her eyes, she leaned back into the guitarist. She didn’t seem to be able to help it as the tears started to come. “I made him sick.”

The boys glanced at each other, realizing they hadn’t considered how guilty she’d likely feel being the first sick person in the family.

“You just happened to get sick first,” Alex pointed out. “He could have had it and just now started having symptoms.”

Julie glared at him through her tears, unconvinced.

“I’ve got to take care of him,” she croaked. “And Carlos!”

“We’ve got it covered, Julie,” Luke insisted. “Reggie’s watching over your dad, Alex is looking after Carlos, and I’ve got you.”

While she seemed at ease in her arms, she didn’t look any more convinced.

“You’re ghosts!” She hissed, coughing as she did.

“Yes, captain obvious,” Luke shot, “and we’ve got this!”

“We’ve actually been taking care of things for a few hours,” Reggie chimed in. “It’s going really well!”

Alex just stuffed his hands into his pockets, looking embarrassed as he confessed:

“Actually, Carlos skipped class this afternoon and played video games. But that was before we knew your dad was sick and stepped in so technically, not on us!”

Julie fumed, but didn’t have the strength to argue anymore.

“Maybe we should call-“

“No!” The three boys exclaimed.

“She’s diabetic, she shouldn’t be around you guys,” Alex insisted. “We’ve got this, Julie. We’ll get you guys through the night.”

She looked positively exhausted as she learned back into Luke’s arms once again. He tried to make her take a sip of the water, which she reluctantly agreed to.

“Just please…take care of them,” Julie pleaded.

“Of course, boss,” Luke whispered.

Reggie needed air.

Well, he needed a break, obviously he didn’t need air.

Ray’s room seemed quiet and calm compared to the chaos they had just stumbled into. He had left a TV show on while he napped, a usual occurrence, Reggie knew, from being a bit too much of a stalker. The Office was on, and Reggie couldn’t help but to grin when he actually recognized what was going on.

“Ohh, I like this episode! I actually know about this show, Julie showed us. Doesn’t beat Friends though, in my opinion.”

Nothing answered him.

He fought the urge to take the man’s temperature again, knowing it would not have likely changed just in that short of time. Instead, he placed a Gatorade from the fridge on the bedside table, knowing he would need the electrolytes. He also refilled the glass of water with the pitcher he placed there earlier, in case he couldn’t stomach the sports drink. Reaching down, he gently took Ray’s pulse, satisfied when it was a normal reading.

Not having anything else productive to do, he took a seat at the foot of the bed.

“You know, we all caught the flu a few months before we died,” Reggie announced, to no one. “We were living in the studio by then, bunch of strays. We lived off canned chicken noodle soup for nearly a week. Not our shiniest moment…but ironically, Luke gets even more creative when he’s feverish. He wrote two of the hits stupid Bobby has now during that week. It was all fun and games until Alex had a pretty bad asthma attack. I know he needed to go to the ER but he wouldn’t let us take him, he was afraid they’d call his parents. I was so afraid we’d lose him that night. I think it was the night we all wondered what we thought we were doing, seventeen years old and living alone in Bobby’s garage. We didn’t really have families, like you guys. Well, Luke did but he didn’t know how good he had it at the time. We really thought we could make it there, until we started touring…we were so stupid. Alex could have died…I mean, he did die, but at least we went together. Not that I would have wanted us to go together but…”

“I know what you mean.”

Reggie jumped as he was actually answered, and looked up to find Alex standing in the doorway. He looked like he had been there for awhile.

“I remember that week,” Alex said as he entered the room. He looked down at Ray, noting all steps Reggie took to make sure he was taken cared of. “I was pretty terrified. Remember when Luke threw up for like, six hours straight?”

The bassist grimaced. Nope, that part he had managed to block out of his memory.

“But I felt safe, knowing I was with you guys. I honestly don’t think I would have bee any better off at home. I’m sorry that I scared you guys, about the ER. I shouldn’t have made you make a decision like that.”

Reggie shrugged.

“I mean if you had turned blue I think we would have dragged you there ourselves,” he teased, “but we survived, somehow. The super flu of January 1995 couldn’t take us out…”

“Stupid hot dogs did though.”

He just nodded in solemn agreement. They shared weak smiles, wondering how one of the strongest memories of that last year of life was also of a time they were in really bad shape.

On the bed before them, Ray slept on, totally oblivious.

Luke slept in Julie’s bed that night.

He really, really shouldn’t have.

He was certain that a seventeen year old ghost sharing a bed with sixteen year old living girl crossed all kinds of moral boundaries.

But she hadn’t wanted him to go. Her head rested gently on his chest, and she seemed to be at ease the most in his arms. It relieved him, that they could touch and she could feel them now, and it calmed him to know that just his touch was that powerful for her. She finally settled in around one in the morning but he remained laying there, eyes wide opened all night as he watched after her, too terrified to dare to leave her side.

The next morning, Reggie played video games with Carlos while Alex made them pancakes. Well, Alex tried to make pancakes. He frowned as he scraped at the pan, not sure he was doing wrong (except the fact that he could neither smell or taste any of the food he cooked). The first pancake cooked okay, but the other two turned out very brown.

“You should wipe out the pan between pancakes.” He jumped at the sound of Julie’s voice and was relieved to turn around and see her standing up, robe tied tightly around her waist, and face full of more color than the day before. “Otherwise the next pancakes get brown.”

“Julie!” The ghosts and Carlos exclaimed at the same time, sounding equally child-like as their eyes lit up.

Reggie and Carlos paused their video games and rushed forward to give her hugs.

“Thanks, Carlos,” Julie smiled. “Have you been okay? I’m kinda concerned that I just let two seventeen year old boys have responsibility for you for the night.”

Reggie stuck his tongue out at her and she stuck hers back out at him.

“No, the ghosts are great! We watched scary movies all night, and Reggie pointed out all the inaccuracies about ghosts. Well, he typed them out, I mean. Watching horror movies with ghosts is definitely the best way to watch them!”

Julie’s mouth fell open, and Alex held his hands up in defense.

“I told them it wasn’t a good idea, but does anyone ever listen to Alex? _No._ ”

“He couldn’t sleep, he was just going to worry all night,” Reggie pointed out. “And he handled the movies just fine! I’m the one who’s never going to be able to look at a television again without thinking about The Ring!”

He looked to Luke for support, knowing the guitarist used to be a major horror movie fan, but Luke could only force a smile. While he shouldn’t be tired enough physically, he looked _exhausted_. He was clearly eaten away with worry after being up all night long agonizing over Julie.

“Are you okay?” Alex asked Julie, turning the conversation back to a serious tone.

Julie nodded, though she didn’t look too convinced of her own answer.

“Yeah, I’m better,” she responded anyway. “By the way, how would you guys have handled it if my dad walked in here to a video game playing by itself?”

She glared, and the guys were too embarrassed to answer.

“Or that the pancakes were making themselves!” Carlos pointed out, grinning ear to ear as he pointed at what, from his point of view, was a spatula flipping pancakes by itself.

Julie shook her head…and then suddenly stopped, squeezing her hand to her forehead.

“Julie?” Luke asked carefully.

Reggie held tightly onto the other side of her, making sure she couldn’t pass out.

“I’m fine,” she insisted, clearly lying.

“This was a fun experiment, but I think you need to go back to bed,” Luke stated.

“No-“

Julie sounded so desperate. She was someone who liked being productive, liked being able to look out for her brother and to be around people. She had spent over a day in bed already!

“The more you rest the easier you’ll recover,” Alex pointed out. “We really do have it covered.”

“Yeah, and no more horror movies,” Reggie promised.

Carlos looked offended, and Reggie winked, knowing The Others was next on the list and technically it was more like a psychological thriller.

“I thought you were looking after Ray,” Luke pointed out.

“He’s been asleep for about twelve hours,” Reggie explained to Julie. “I checked on him an hour ago, he’s doing okay.”

“We’ll keep an eye on him,” Alex promised. “And I will bring you some non-burnt pancakes. You need something other than soup to eat.”

Julie grimaced, the night hours she spent sent to her stomach still in her mind, but she knew he was right.

“Fine, just…”

She coughed, breaking her record of longest she had gone without a coughing fit.

“Gross,” Carlos muttered, even though he patted his sister’s back.

Luke raised a hand to her forehead.

“You’re still burning up,” Luke murmured. He moved to get an ice pack from the freezer.

“Luke, it’s okay,” Julie said, trying to stop him. Carlos watched what appeared to be his sister wrestling with air with fascination. “Please. I’ll go back to bed. Why don’t you take a break?”

To prove her point, she tried to walk by herself but stumbled forward. Luke caught her.

“Fat chance,” he shot.

When Luke and Julie were settled back into her bed, the singer looked more defeated than ever.

“I’m sorry,” Luke whispered, holding the ice pack to her head to try to cool her down. He wasn’t super sure if that’s how this worked, but it didn’t seem to comfort her to have the cold ice on her warm skin. “I know this sucks. On the bright side, since you have this now you don’t have to worry about getting it for another few months at least, right? That’s what the news has said.”

She glared at him, and even Luke was surprised just how much he had learned from the news. He had never paid attention to the news when he was alive, but Julie was totally in tune to what was going on in the world nearly 24/7.

“I really don’t think I can sleep anymore,” she admitted. She stared at him a long moment, searching for his trust. “I…I’ve been having dreams about my mom. She was so sick, kind of like this. She was weak all the time. She tried to not show that to us, but I could tell. It was so hard…I know my dad’s really sick…”

“He’s going to be fine,” Luke said, taking her hand. “Both of you just need to rest.”

“I know,” her eyes swelled with tears, “I just heard him say that same thing about my mom so much. I know my dad is likely to be okay, there’s just no guarantee, and I don’t know what I would do without him.”

Without warning she completely broke down, and Luke swallowed nervously. While considered himself fairly in tune with his emotions, he never did know what to say when girls broke down like this. He knew Julie likely just needed to let it all out and just needed him to hold her, as he did, but he felt badly that he didn’t have anything useful to say.

“I wish there was more I could do,” he murmured as she rest her head against his shoulder.

As she lifted up, wiping her tears away and coughing, she paused in consideration.

“Do you think you could get your guitar?” She asked. He lifted his eyebrows, surprised. “There’s this song, my mom and I used to love. Trevor had it, but obviously you wrote it…I’d like to hear your version of it. It’s “In Your Starlight”.

There was a flutter in his chest when she revealed the title. Luke had to admit, it was one of his favorite ones he had written, and he was flattered it was one that Julie and her mom adored.

“Of course.”

He wished for his guitar, and to his relief it appeared. Both of them smiled in surprise; that just never got old. She scooted to the edge of the bed, making room beside her as he found his fingering on the guitar.

And he sang.

Luke dared to glance over to her as he did, noticing how much she recognized the lyrics. He knew she was holding back from wanting to belt out the chorus along with them. She smiled. It was beautiful.

She was so beautiful.

Even snotty, coughing, weak. Even while leaning against him on the bathroom floor, her hair a sweaty miss.

Luke swallowed nervously, knowing he really shouldn’t be having these feelings toward someone he could never have a realistic relationship with.

As he finished her smile broadened, and she took his hand in hers.

“It’s beautiful,” she whispered. “I have so many questions I want to ask, but…”

Her eyes were fluttering, desperate for rest.

“You should sleep, Julies,” he whispered back. He brushed her hair out of her face.

“Lay down with me?”

His body was stiff with anxiety, having been in this room for almost twenty-four hours now worrying about her, but he couldn’t stomach the thought of not being right by her side. He lay down with her and they lay like that, forehead to forehead. His eyes lifted up to her, admiring her as she rested.

She was too perfect.

His non-beating heart ached, knowing he was dancing on dangerous territory.

On the third day of looking after Ray, Reggie turned on the television, unable to stand the silence. He kept it on The Office, watching back through episodes Ray had already seen. It wasn’t as good as Friends, he thought, but he still let out a few empty laughs, and though nothing felt right it was somehow comforting to him. Carlos came in after awhile, asking for help on math homework which Reggie was glad to do for him. Math had always made sense. Math was just numbers. There was either a right answer or a wrong answer. It required his full concentration.

He smiled, a half hour into helping Carlos as the young boy seemed to understand how all of this could be interesting. They could still only communicate via Reggie typing on Carlos’ computer, and he wished desperately to be seen, to hang out with Carlos and have a younger brother for real, but this was enough for now.

Alex came in and got Carlos for lunch. He updated Reggie that Julie’s fever had gone down and she managed to stomach eating some toast. As the drummer left, Reggie looked after his own patient, willing him to improve just as much.

Around two, Reggie took Ray’s temperature again.

It was 103.

Human body temperatures should not keep going up after multiple days of being sick and resting, right?!

It was all he could do to not let out a panic scream at too-high number, but all the same at that moment Ray stirred.

“Rose?” He mumbled helplessly as his eyes fluttered opened.

Reggie stopped when he realized in horror…Ray was looking right at him. For real this time.

“Who are you?!” Ray demanded, his voice only a rough whisper.

Though he had no beating heart, Reggie could have sworn it was beating madly and out of control in his chest. Ray reached out, successfully touching Reggie’s arm. Fight or flight was taking over him, and flight was winning…though Reggie couldn’t bring himself to run away.

“My fever must be really bad,” Ray mumbled hoarsely. “You look like one of the guys from Julie’s band.”

Of course, he realized, maybe he was simply the bassist visiting from Sweden.

 _…during a global pandemic?_ His brain reminded him.

Maybe Ray would just forget this altogether after falling asleep and waking up again.

“Here, drink some of this,” Reggie instructed, handing Ray the mug of broth. Ray tried to and sputtered. “Yeah, it’s kind of cold and terrible.”

“Julie…Carlos?”

“They’re fine,” Reggie promised. “We need to get your temperature down more.”

“What is it? What day is it?”

“Monday…day three. It’s 103 degrees.”

Ray let out another round of coughs. His eyes wandered up to Reggie, both weak and wild, trying to focus and figure him out.

“You’re not holograms, are you?” Ray sighed. Reggie tried to get him to drink more water. “I wasn’t born yesterday.”

Reggie couldn’t help but to smile.

“Neither was I,” Reggie offered. He stopped, his mind racing as he considered what to do. He felt like he should poof away and tell Julie and the guys what happened immediately, but he knew disappearing would only make things worse. At last, Reggie admitted: “I was born in 1978.”

The father stared at him, looking like he didn’t at all believe what was happening. He looked half out of it, half fascinated.

“You’re not from Sweden, are you?” Ray finally asked.

A little weight lifted off his shoulders when he wasn’t immediately ordered out of the room. At this point, he knew the only thing he owed Ray was honesty.

“I’m originally from Idaho,” Reggie grinned. He stopped when clearly, no one else was amused. “We moved to LA when I was 7 so yeah, basically grew up here.”

No one spoke. Ray looked like he was certain he was hallucinating, and Reggie wasn’t too sure they shouldn’t just let him go with that theory.

“I must really, really be sick,” Ray whispered.

Reggie nodded.

“Yeah…you kinda are.”

He melted at how horrified Ray looked at that. Then he realized…he had thought Reggie was Rose. He could see ghosts. Surely he wasn’t…hovering between two worlds, was he? He forced himself to not go there; Julie would be devastated if she knew he was even thinking about that theory.

“You’re going to be fine,” Reggie told him. He reached over to place the cool wash cloth on his forehead once again to try to cool his body down.

Ray fell back asleep, his breathing far too ragged for his liking. Reggie let out a long breath, hoping the psychological effect would be enough to comfort him, but his mind still reeled.

What did this mean? What if Ray was really, really sick and needed an actual doctor?

_He could see me._

He allowed the smallest of smiles to cross his face. Though he had been hanging out at the Molina’s house for less than a year, he felt more closely connected with him than any parental figure in his life. Which was…almost none. Maybe Ray couldn’t see him, but it felt warm around him, welcoming. The Molina’s house was the kind of place where you could step foot in and instantly feel safe…even as a teenage ghost from 1995.

“Please don’t be mad at me,” Reggie whispered to the sleeping Ray. “I get it, if you need to yell at us, ground us…though I’m not sure you can ground ghosts. Or people who aren’t your kids. I get it if you’re mad, though. But…please forgive us. We really didn’t have anywhere else to go. We don’t have anyone else. You have to get through this. Julie needs you. I…”

There was a soft knock on the door, and Reggie nearly jumped out of his skin. He quickly wiped away a tear that had fallen as he moved to open the door.

“Julie?” He whispered, surprised to see his sleepy friend leaning in the doorway, Luke loyally by her side.

She didn’t say anything as she numbly slipped into the room, gazing ahead at the bed that her dad was still asleep in.

“How’s his fever?” Luke asked him quietly.

Reggie just shook his head, and they both turned away helplessly as Julie approached the bed. She still didn’t say anything to either of them as she sank into the bed beside her father, going stiff when she felt his forehead and felt how warm he was.

“We’ll give you some space,” Reggie offered.

He was about to motion to Luke to disappear when the door opened again, and there stood Carlos with Alex by his side.

“He couldn’t sleep,” the drummer explained. “I tried to tell him he should stay separated…”

“It’s fine,” Julie said, reaching out for her brother as he sleepily climbed onto the bed.

“We’ve been in this house for months, and I was around them the day they got sick. If I’m going to catch it I caught it,” Carlos mumbled.

The three ghosts stood together across the room, feeling absolutely drained emotionally. Maybe physically they couldn’t get tired, but the emotional strange of watching the Molinas go through this was worse than any kind of tired Reggie had felt in his life.

“Guys,” Julie called out to them, her exhausted eyes looking too dried out from tears to cry anymore. “Please stay.”

While he secretly felt like he wasn’t sure how much more he could take, how much pain he could witness, none of them had any intention of leaving Julie’s side any time soon. Alex took a seat at the foot of the bed, Reggie resumed his spot in the chair beside where Ray slept, and Luke sat on the bed beside Julie and Carlos. He helped the younger boy get under the covers, tucking him in and it wasn’t long before he was finally asleep.

Julie stayed awake with the guys, no one saying anything as they could only wait for her dad’s fever to go down.

The next morning was the quietest they had experienced in the Molina household. They hung out in the living room, mindless watching the Disney show Carlos had on- though he had fallen back asleep not ten minutes into TV watching. Julie was texting Flynn, trying to figure out what she should do if her dad still wasn’t any better today. Her head lay in Luke’s lap while Alex sat crosslegged on the couch beside them and the sleeping Carlos, and Reggie sat on the floor.

“Flynn’s mom is a nurse,” Julie explained. “She says she can come over later if we need her to. She’s around COVID patients anyway so she’s not worried about being exposed.”

“That won’t be necessary.”

They all jumped up at the sound of Ray’s weak voice. Reggie’s eyes lit up when he saw Julie’s father enter the room, still in the same pajamas and looking rather unsteady on his feet- but he was up. He was okay.

“Dad!” Carlos was immediately awake at the sound of his dad’s voice and ran to hug him, Julie right behind him.

“Does anyone want to tell me what’s been going on?” Ray asked after hugging and kissing both of his children on the head.

“Your fever was really high!” Carlos chimed in. “And Julie threw up for like three hours. But don’t worry, I’ve been perfectly fine.”

“I’m relieved to hear that, mijo,” Ray smiled, but his face fell into seriousness as he turned back to Julie. “But I was talking about the teenage boy who just had your head in his lap.”

Julie’s eyes went wide, and on the couch, Luke absolutely froze.

Reggie had to keep from bursting out laughing. While there were certainly worse situations that Ray could have discovered the existence of Luke in, it wasn’t exactly ideal. The bassist found himself smiling as he got to his feet, and when Ray saw him a familiarity flashed in his eyes.

“You’re actually real,” Ray announced quietly.

They stood in front of each other, each equally as fascinated that this was really happening. Again.

“Yeah,” Reggie smiled. “Not a hallucination.”

“He saw you?!” Julie exclaimed.

“Wait! I can’t see them!” Carlos whined. “What’s happening!”

Luke looked furious that he hadn’t been warned, and Alex looked numb, clearly thinking of all the worst-case scenarios that might happen now that Ray would find out the truth. They were all confused as well, because Carlos still hadn’t been able to see them.

“He thought he was hallucinating!” Reggie explained. “And his fever was 103, so for all I knew, he was.”

“Dude, you were actually there, that makes no sense,” Alex pointed out, stepping forward.

Ray seemed to note that the boys seemed just confused to see him as he was them, and he thankfully wasn’t in full on freaking out mode yet.

“It was a long night!” Reggie sighed.

“It’s alright,” Ray offered, placing a hand on Reggie’s shoulder. The bassist startled, but tried to not overreact at the overwhelming realization that Ray could feel them as well as see them. “You really were there, that whole time?”

He nodded. Everyone stared, no one having a clue how they were supposed to proceed from here. Julie looked very much like a student who was pleading silently to not be called on.

Reggie wasn’t the only one who was shocked when Ray stepped forward and threw his arms around him. He was confused at first, he had expected to be yelled at, stormed out on, thrown out. Not hugged.

But being hugged was great. He smiled brighter, tears already watering in his eyes as he returned the embraced.

“Thank you,” Ray whispered. 

Tears were in the father’s eyes as well as he pulled back, forcing a smile as to not scare his kids.

“And you guys, you were looking after the kids?” He asked Alex and Luke.

They nodded stiffly, Luke still looking slightly terrified. His bandmate swallowed nervously as he stepped forward, holding out his hand.

“I’m Luke,” he introduced, trying to sound as mature and not creepy teenage boyish as possible. Ray shook his hand, and Alex stood up next.

“I’m Alex,” his voice wavering. Ray shook his hand next before running his hands over his face, which still looked a bit clammy.

He turned back to Reggie.

“I’m Reggie,” he explained. “It’s really, really great to meet officially meet you.”

“Julie!” Carlos cut. “Why can I still not see them?!”

He waved his hand in front of Ray, between where he and Reggie stood. Ray looked amused, but even more concerned now. He probably could have convinced himself that they really were just Julie’s band members who had for whatever reason traveled there during the pandemic and just happened to be there to help take care of them. But he didn’t look like he knew what to think about Carlos not being able to see them.

“Mija?” Ray finally asked, turning to Julie. “I think we have a lot to catch up on.”

Julie went with her dad back to the master bedroom, where he carefully sat down on the bed, feeling like sitting was probably better for this conversation. His daughter quietly closed the door, acting uncharacteristically shy and nervous as she stood as far away as possible. He could tell she was imagining herself being grounded for months, not being able to be in the band anymore, being lectured.

Frankly, he was too exhausted to work through any of those options.

His mind was still working through the fact that he had been out cold with such a high fever for two days, being taken care of by a teenage boy he had never met in person…who his son couldn’t see.

There was only one real explanation at this point, wasn’t there?

And he just dreaded hearing it, because the explanation made so much more sense than holograms, and the explanation meant that those three bright, kind, boys that looked so very alive standing in his living room, who were so full of talent and potential were…

“They’re not holograms,” Julie said suddenly, wringing her hands as she drew in a deep breath.

At last she sank down on the bed beside him, and he wrapped his arm around her shoulder as she finally told him the truth.

They were ghosts.

Three teenage boys who died of food poisoning in 1995, who used to live in the studio (he tried to ignore the parental worry that ate at him as he considered the magnitude of awful reasons teenagers might be living alone in that garage), who appeared to her when she was at her worst, most lost, phase of grief. Three teenage boys who were insanely talented, who had been in a band with the Trevor Wilson, who wrote the songs the rock star now claimed as his own. Three teenage boys, ghosts, who were clearly the only reason his daughter had made it out of the past year.

How could he be mad?

He was concerned that she hadn’t felt like she could tell him the truth. Yes, obviously he likely would have suggested therapy again at first. But if she had introduced them properly, like she had apparently done with Flynn, he would have understood.

Well, obviously he wouldn’t have understood but he would have managed to accept what was happening.

Just like that, his daughter was in tears, her head buried in his shoulder, terrified of his response.

“Julie,” he whispered, pulling her hair away. He paused, remembering the night after he first saw the band and spoke to what he could only hope was his wife’s spirit, thanking her for sending Julie three angels that brought her out of her depression. “I once said that those three boys must be angels, for having found you when they did, for bringing music back into your heart and putting the spark back in your eye.”

A smile draped across her face as she lifted her head up, gazing after him, hopeful he really could be that understanding.

“They clearly, actually are angels,” he said. He had to turned to cough into his arm; all this time he was trying to ignore his pounding head and his croaky voice. His fever was down to 100 the last time he checked, but he was definitely not out of the woods yet. “I don’t understand any of this…quite possibly even less than I understood the hologram story.”

They both laugh, secretly both feeling stupid for ever thinking that story could be believed. Drawing in a few deep breaths, he reached for a glass of water to ease his throat.

“Are you okay?” Julie asked.

She just sounded so mature for her age. What she must have been through that year, what it must have done to her to meet these three kids, just a year older than her, and learn how they died and everything they must have lost, it had aged her more than she deserved. Between that and her mother’s death…she had practically skipped right over her teenage years, he felt.

He nodded, not wanting to worry her any more than he apparently had. The fear in his kids eyes when he had approached them that morning mimicked the fear they all held around Rose in her final weeks, and it wasn’t a look he ever wanted to see in his children’s eyes again.

“Yeah,” he croaked. 

Julie smiled at him.

“And there’s nothing going on between me and Luke, by the way,” she offered. He had to admit, it made him feel a little better. Rose was always so much better with that topic, and Ray was already in too much shock to deal with my _daughter is dating a teenaged ghost_. “These guys, they’ve become my brothers. I don’t know how I would have gotten through the past few days without them…let alone this past year. None of us fully understand how this is happening, but I’ve stopped questioning it. They’re family, Papi. I’m sorry I lied. I’m sorry I kept them secret. I promise, if you give them a chance you will love them. They love you already, Reggie adores you. He actually hangs out with you all the time.”

He smiled.

“Is he the reason I haven’t lost my keys or phone in almost a year?” He teased.

She laughed.

“Did you really think you suddenly became that organized?”

They both laughed, and suddenly so many things made sense. All the times when he didn’t realize he had already put the clothes from the washer to the dryer, the fact that he hadn’t lost a single sock all year, or the days when his mail was already on the counter when he got home.

“They’ve really just been hanging around the house all year?” He asked, suddenly very amused by the whole situation. “They don’t want to ghost travel or anything?”

Even Julie looked like she was still impressed by this fact.

“This is their home,” she shrugged. “The studio, it was their home in life and death.”

“Well,” he replied hoarsely, placing a hand on her knee, “it’s certainly going to remain their home.”

He smiled when he saw how happy this made her. It was only happy tears now as they hugged. His little girl, all grown up, having gone through the loss of her mother and being amazing helping him and Carlos all through that tragedy, now helping these guys through their own tragedy and afterlife, leading their band.

“I couldn’t be prouder of you,” he admitted.

Anddddd he was coughing again. She turned to him, concerned, and practically forced him to lay back down.

“I _am_ calling Flynn’s mom,” she insisted. “You’re still running a fever, even if it’s gone down. Does your chest feel okay?”

He knew he shouldn’t lie to her. He was already going to hear enough of it from Victoria once she found out how sick he had really been.

“It’s just a little congested,” he admitted. In reality, it felt like an elephant was sitting on him, but he had no intention of going to any ER. He knew how overwhelmed the hospitals were. It would be a fight, but he _was_ getting better (for now). “My fever is down. How about you? You seem better, are you okay?”

Julie nodded, looking like she had almost forgotten about being sick.

“Yeah, I was pretty sick to my stomach,” she admitted.

“I’ve heard a lot of people get GI symptoms instead of respiratory symptoms. Some virus, right?”

She just shrugged, clearly exhausted from having to talk about it, but she threw him a comforting smile.

“Please don’t worry about me,” she insisted. “I’m fine. Carlos is fine. I’m going to go make you some soup, and you are going to get some rest in the meantime. Do you need anything?”

As he gazed at his daughter, he wondered what more he could possibly need after being so taken cared of these past few days.

“Maybe just some juice,” he finally admitted. He could probably use something sugary, after all.

They exchanged a final hug, and he settled into bed, feeling entirely overwhelmed. He felt so terrible for Julie, that she had gone through this alone for all these months. He felt bad for himself that he hadn’t been invited along, that he had clearly missed out on having such a great group of (ghost) kids that he could have gotten to know, gotten to help. He felt so relieved for Julie that she had found such a great group of friends; he felt like she was looked after.

 _He_ felt looked after.

And he had to admit…it was a refreshing feeling. Since losing Rose, he felt so lost in this world. Felt like he was fighting every day, making it up as he went along, unsure of how in the world he was supposed to raise these two kids alone, while struggling with his own grief. Rose had died at one of the most crucial times in Julie’s life, when she needed her mother the most. Only to himself, only at his lowest, would he ever admit that he sometimes did wish he had some help. Maybe not from his wife’s very protective, very dominating sister who would just totally take over his house if he let her. But from someone- _someones_ \- who could just…be there.

While he and Rose had only ever planned on having the two children, and he hadn’t in a million years imagined there ever being a situation where he would have more kids, he knew as his eyes fluttered shut, body desperate for sleep, that he had just gained three more kids.

It took nearly a week and a half into Ray’s battle with the virus for things to finally start looking up. While Julie only had what seemed like a stomach bug and heavy fatigue for a few days, Ray was still coughing and trying to treat chest congestion well into the second week. The longer it went on, the more the boys stepped in. Once that got over the initial high fever, their anxiety at least eased a bit. Julie and Carlos at least didn’t seem to walk around with only horrific memories of their mother being sick written on their faces. Granted, Carlos was still pretty pissed at the ghosts for not being able to see them, but they had all fallen into a nice co-existing routine. Julie and the guys tried out some new songs for Ray, he only being able to watch in astonishment that his daughter could ever be this talented.

The ghosts really brought out the best in her, in all of them, really. Reggie had even gotten Carlos interested in math- _math_. They pitied all the parents out there who didn’t have an amazing daughter and three ghosts helping their younger kids with online school.

Reggie smiled to himself as he loaded another load of laundry into the washer. He now understood the amount of times his mother got onto him about all of his dirty clothes- how the youngest Molina went through so many clothes while being stuck inside the house for weeks on end, he had no idea.

“Domestic life looks good on you.” He jumped at Luke’s sudden teasing voice. Rolling his eyes, he noted the guitarist had poofed into the room so that he sat on the dryer while Alex appeared beside him, leaning against the wall.

“We have basically lived here for a year rent-free,” Reggie pointed out. “And it’s nice to feel useful.”

“We died at seventeen from hot dogs, I think the universe owes us a garage to live in,” Luke shot, even as his eyes twinkled in amusement.

“What he means, is Julie is offering us a free pass for the afternoon,” Alex explained. “Things are looking up, and she thought it might do us some good to go out and get some nice, fresh, ghost air.”

In all honesty, the past couple of weeks had made them feel like they were trapped in a weird time wrap, where they days meant nothing and they were in- for lack of a better phrase- survival mode. He really hadn’t even thought of going out, though he had to admit getting some sun would be nice (…not that he actually needed it, but it still brightened his mood when it was nice out). Still…

“It’s just for a few hours,” Luke pleaded.

“Also, Julie insists she can make us go,” Alex pointed out.

That sounded more right.

“You should go.” They looked up to find Ray, full dressed in jeans and t-shirt for the first time in almost two weeks, beaming at them. “Julie’s right, you guys really didn’t have to stay couped up in the house all this time just for our sakes. You’ve been an amazing, amazing help. You deserve a break.”

Alex looked relieved to be offered the permission.

“Dude, come on, pier, _now_!” Luke announced.

They both disappeared away before anything else could come up, but Ray reached out to stop Reggie. The bassist looked up at him, curious as to what’s going on.

“You really don’t have to do our laundry,” Ray told him, his lips turned up in an amused smile.

“What can I say?” Reggie shrugged. “Some ghosts haunt opera houses…others haunt garages and laundry rooms.”

They laughed, and Reggie still couldn’t get over how real it felt to be there with Julie’s dad right now. He couldn’t help but to feel nervous; Ray had been quite sick all those first few days of finding out they were ghosts who had been living in his garage all year. Maybe now that he was more level-headed, he would realize what insanity had been going on.

“Can we talk?” Ray asked. Leaning back against the wall and crossing his arms. Reggie nodded, sitting down the load he had been working on and crossing his arms as well, unsure of what else he should be doing. “Mijo…I think we both are wondering if the reason I can see you guys now is because I was so sick. I think I was really connected to you, at that time. I wasn’t close to the light or anything. But, please don’t tell Julie this, for a while there I was afraid that might be where I was headed. You just hear all the horror stories, you know?”

Reggie couldn’t respond. He was terrified to realize his big fear had been right, that maybe for a split second there, Ray _was_ nearly between life and death and was a lot sicker than they had realized. It made him sick knowing they really should have likely sent him to the hospital.

“It’s okay!” Ray promised, seeing his guilt. He placed a hand on his shoulder, and Reggie immediately felt a bit more at ease. “It’s alright, I promise. I’m fine. I didn’t ever mean to put something like that on any of you, and I’m so sorry that I did.”

“It’s okay.”

Truthfully, the past couple of weeks had been some of the scariest of his life and after life. He couldn’t even imagine what it was like for the Molinas to go through that for _months_ when Julie’s mom was sick. The anxiety was maddening, the uncertainty, the second guessing everything they did. The responsibility of caring for a young living child- who couldn’t even see them! It all felt so impossible.

The guys were right, maybe now that things were looking up a break from it all was what they needed.

“Reggie, I heard you,” Ray finally admitted softly. “I think you thought I fell asleep, and I was really out of it. But I heard you ask me to not be mad at you, and I just wanted you to know…I could never be mad at you.”

A lump developed in his throat, and Reggie stiffened, not sure how to react. His eyes watered, desperation overwhelming him as he hoped he was hearing things correctly. It was everything he had hoped to hear, everything he needed to hear.

“I’m a little concerned, to be honest, why you would think I would react like that,” the father confessed.

Reggie’s eyes fell to the floor.

It was a story he hadn’t told Julie at all, and even the guys didn’t know the half of how badly it had gotten with his parents. They didn’t know that he sometimes had to get in the middle…all he knew as a living kid was parents who were forever disappointed in him, forever unhappy.

There was something about Ray, about how opening and welcoming he was, that made him want to confess all of that.

“My parents…” Reggie trailed off, finding it emotionally impossible to speak. Thankfully, Ray seemed to understand where this was going and simply nodded before embracing the teenager. And Reggie couldn’t help it…he absolutely broke down, because he could not once remember being hugged by a father like this. At last, he was able to tearfully admit: “I’ve never felt safer than in your home.”

“You’re safe here, mijo. You’ll always be safe here.”

Ray let him go, and Reggie felt like he was forcing himself to go after the guys. Truth was, he felt like he could hang out in the Molinas house forever, just basking in the glow of being a part of their family. He had a feeling that aside from the life and deathness of it all, this father son connection with Ray he had so desperately wanted, _needed_ , was a huge reason of why the lifer could suddenly see and feel them all. He knew deep down, the other guys had needed a dad just as badly. Even if Luke’s parents weren’t all that bad, the Molinas were who they had now. It was time for them to all be one family.

“Hey! I can see you!”

The two broke apart from their embrace to find Carlos beaming at them. Reggie blinked, wondering if maybe it wasn’t just this weird emotional connection thing…maybe his telekinesis was just getting that good.

 _I want a puppy!_ He tried, for the umpteenth time. To no avail, of course.

But of course, as Carlos rushed forward to tackle him into another hug, he knew he was totally fine without a dog.

In what seemed like the blink of an eye, he had gained a brother and a dad.

After all, he could always team up with Carlos and Julie to convince Ray to get them a dog.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! I originally tried to post as a multi-chapter fic and then accidentally deleted it when I meant to edit it. I decided to just post everything at once because I didn't like it split up. But hey, sometimes a nice long fic is just what the doctor ordered! I really hoped that you like it, and I would love to hear your feedback :) comments and kudos make me smile!


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